9, seven down! >> reporter: a man dressed all in black had walked into the theater and just stated shooting. at first some people thought it was just part of the movie. >> i said to my brother hey, you know, we're actually -- these sound effects have gotten pretty good and then you can start to hear them again and you hear people screaming in the theater. >> then police say that gunman just sat down outside the back of the theater and appears to have waited for them to arrive. 24-year-old james holmes was in the process of with drawing from the university of colorado denver's graduate program in neurosciences. his family is from the san diego area. police say his only prior record is a speeding ticket in october of last year. investigators say he had one handgun on him and three other weapons in his car including a 12 gauge shotgun and an assault rifle. >> we can't allow people that are aberrations of nation to take away the joys and freedoms

that we enjoy. >> warner brothers canceled the premier of the film scheduled for paris tonight. the studio has not said if any other screenings might be canceled. the chain that owns the theater in aurora says it's working with law enforcement but it's stepping up security at several locations. >> we will always wish that no matter how much we do now that we had done more. >> president obama was in florida when the news broke. he made one appearance but chose not to campaign and then canceled the rest of the day's campaigning to come back to d.c. >> if there's anything to take away from this tragedy, it's the reminder that life is very fragile. our time here is limited and it is precious. and what matters at the end of the day is not the small things. it's not the trivial things which so often consume us in our daily lives.

ultimately it's how we choose to treat one another and how we love one another. >> president obama has issued a proclamation honoring the victims in today's shooting. he's calling for all flags to be flown half staff until sunset next wednesday. our colleagues at our sister station in denver have been quite busy with this story all day. we are joined live now from aurora phone center with more. are you there? >> reporter: i can hear you guys. >> we understand the suspect james holmes stood in line to see the dark knight rises like everybody else and he got up at one point before police say he was the one who carried out this horrific attack. have you talked to anybody who saw anything that might have raised a red flag? >> reporter: no. i haven't talked to anybody who said there might have been a red flag or anybody that knew mr. holmes. what i can tell you is we just spoke with a person who was sitting in the second row of theater 9 when this shooting

took place. they said it was about 20 minutes into the movie. all of a sudden that exit door opens. a masked gunman who has a gas mask on throws these two canisters down. gas starts spraying in the air. a lot of the viewers reported thinking it was part of the movie and had no idea something very violent and deadly was about to go down. they were a little freaked out, but they didn't know what was going to happen. all of a sudden the gunman start shooting one shot into the air and then starts -- starts shooting one shot into the air and then starts shooting randomly into the crowd. one gentleman i spoke with in the second row said he hit the deck and started crawling back from the gunman at front of the theater. he didn't know what to think and he said it's just starting to settle down into his head right now how incredibly violent this experience was. he's still shaken. i don't think it's really processed, but they didn't see any warning signs coming. >> can't even begin to imagine what these folks are going to be dealing with down the line, the trauma. let's talk quickly about the bomb technicians that are at

holmes' home trying to unweave this tangled web of wires and booby traps, sophisticated things in his apartment. are they closer to figuring out how to dismantle all that? >> reporter: they're pretty tight lipped about what's happening inside that apartment. last we checked they weren't describing the type of booby traps. all we know is there are wires and cords that are coming out of several bottles filled with an unknown liquid that are attached to other unknown explosives and they started looking at it through the window. they had an armored truck that went to the scene, looked through the window and saw these explosive devices. it could take hours. it may take days, but we don't know what is in those bottles and if they're going to explode or not. >> the police chief says he's never seen anything like it before. thanks so much. >> reporter: you're welcome. tonight a majority of the bodies of those shot and killed are still inside that movie theater. police are not yet confirming

their ids, but one name we heard tonight is jessica ghawi. the aspiring sportscaster had just moved to denver from san antonio, texas. just six weeks ago she was in toronto when a gunman opened fire inside a busy shopping mall. she had written on her blog she had been in that same food court just minutes before the gunfire began there. new york city's police chief says he was briefed the gunman entered the theater dressed as the joker from the batman movies, but aurora's colorado police chief will not confirm that is the case. we do know theaters across country are talking about cute tonight. >> reporter: i'm scott broom in silver spring -- about security tonight. >> reporter: i'm scott broom in silver spring where police have put a precautionary presence outside theaters after the tragedy in colorado. >> kind of glad they're making sure people feel calm. >> reporter: there was no sign today events in colorado slowed the steady traffic of fans coming to see the dark knight rises in silver spring and producer warner brothers has no plans to suspend the screenings of the film nationwide.

however, this trailer for the upcoming release of gangster squad has been pulled. ironically it features a shooting scene inside a crowded theater. >> i don't think it had anything to do with the movie. >> i think people can make a distinction between fantasy and reality. >> reporter: here in silver spring theatergoers acknowledge tragedy, but they aren't stopped by it. >> just coming out it was kind of weird to see it, but in light of what happened yesterday i can understand why. >> reporter: scott broom, 9 news now. now real life similations are the key to making sure emergency responders are ready no matter what and we go behind the screens in one of those emergency drills today. >> reporter: from the air and the ground the scene at wise high school today appeared society may once again have run amuck, but that's not the case. >> we do practice our tactics and our efforts in the event that tragedy visits our jurisdiction.

>> reporter: from the specialized hostage rescue unit to county patrol officers, this realistic active shooter exercise prepares officers to react instinctively if they have to. >> we practice scenarios like this and our patrol officers, our detectives, our s.w.a.t. officers and k-9 officers know how they're expected to act in the event of a real emergency. >> reporter: this day long similation with police academy recruits playing victims was planned weeks ago. >> move the gun now! >> reporter: but with the overnight shooting in aurora officers here are on heightened alert. >> we're aware of our movie theaters right now. we've added extra patrols at all of our movie theaters. we're aware of the show times associated with the movie involved in this incident. >> reporter: in a ballet against terror over 50 officers move through the school 1 room at a time honing a school most hope they never have to use.

on their side? havina vigilant public. >> you see something, say something and we'd like to take this opportunity to encourage folks to do that. >> we've got a lot more on the theater shooting in colorado on our website at www.wusa9.com. we will continue throughout the night as new information becomes available. the other big story tonight is a flood watch for our area. that's got our 9 weather team declaring a severe weather alert day. let's get back to anny in the weather center for more. >> we're really concerned about flooding in the low lying areas and those creeks and streams. we have that flash flood watch in effect until 11:00 tonight. here's a look that the on the weather computer. it includes the entire d.c. metro area. right now things are fairly quiet, not a lot of storms or widespread rain. up toward the northwest of us into winchester we're seeing some thunderstorms, but they aren't severe. we haven't had a whole lot of heating today, so that does limit our chances to see some severe storms. here's a look at doppler where

you can see it's out northwest of us getting into western virginia. that line of storms is what we're watching and this could bring us more showers and storms later tonight. so as you're heading out bringing the umbrellas for this evening, it's not a bad night to stay home and relax. back to you. coming up at 7:00 on 9 news now our coverage on the theater shooting in colorado continues. a marymount university psychology professor will be here to weigh in on the suspect and how the victims and town have found a way to come to grips with today's tragic event. still to come all our recent storms are putting one local neighbor through fits of flooding. >> but first weekend work could add half an hour to your trip on metro, what you need to know next.

back to the commuter alert, metro will be working on the red line this weekend and close the medical center and bethesda

stations from 10 p.m. tonight through sunday. metro will use buses to carry passengers traveling between grovener and friendship heights. add some extra cash for travel if you're hitting the road, gas prices going up. according to aaa, regular unleaded in the d.c. area has jumped 11 cents a gallon since the start of the month. some experts predict it will go up another dime a gallon in the next few weeks. still ahead tonight a warning from a local power company about scammers out to target your wallet. [ male announcer ] where did all the obama stimulus money go? friends, donors, campaign supporters, special interest groups where did the obama stimulus money go? solyndra: 500 million taxpayer dollars. bankrupt.

so where did the obama stimulus money go? windmills from china. electric cars from finland 79% of the 2.1 billion in stimulus grants awarded through it went to overseas companies. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message.

i'm anita brikman with this health alert. it's time to cut back on radiation exposure to kids. the fda says only do ct scans and other x-rays when necessary. new research shows even a few brain scans in childhood could increase the risk of brain tumors or leukemia later in life. >> this health alert is sponsored by cancer treatment centers of america, care that never quit to. learn more visit cancercenter.com. 9 want you to know you'll be paying -- wants you to know you'll be paying more on your pepco electric bill if you live in maryland. less than an hour ago the public service commission approved an 18 my ondollars rate hike that it says will -- $18 million rate hike that it says will transfer into $2 on

your bill each month. there's way, tonight from dominion virginia power. someone or some group is out there pretending to be their employees. they knock on your door or call, offer to set up an automatic bill paying system consented with a federal government program. here's -- connected with a federal government program. no such thing exists. the scam artist is out to get your personal information. now a fair number of people lost power with this round of storms that rolled through last night, but only a few outages remain. pepco has 270 customers without power, dominion power is reporting 283 and bge has 150. those storms also brought a bit of flooding in parts of arlington. this was the scene along south joy street underneath i-395. all lanes were open by midmorning. one d.c. neighborhood has seen its share of flooding this summer. we're talking about bloomingdale off rhode island avenue in the northwestern

quadrant of the city. that's where our surae chinn is live tonight. the last time they had flooding it look like a mess with the sewer and all that stuff. >> reporter: the same thing this go around. the bloomingdale area traditionally floods maybe every few years but never have residents seen three floods in a week and d.c. water is trying to figure out about what's going on. d.c. water is walking the pipes underground. they're cleaning out storm drains and snaking cameras where crews can't get to. >> there seems to us to be something that has changed which is why we've been sending all of our investigators to see did the derecho storm dislodge something? we haven't found anything yet. >> i can't tell you how much money i've lost from that alone including damages. it's hard. >> reporter: frustration is

bubbling over for bloomingdale residents seeing images of high water coming out of storm drains, toilets and tubs. they've cleaned out sewage from their basements the third time in a week. some residents have temporary fixes with stop valves and d.c. water suggests installing a back flow preventer at the cost of roughly $2,500. the agency is working on a plan to help pay for part of it. >> it's unhealthy. it's just demoralizing your pride and joy, your home, getting destroyed. it's rough. >> reporter: while the d.c. mayor's office is reporting that they are giving away is an bags and they have been throughout the afternoon -- sandbags and they have been throughout the afternoon. the permanent fix is still 13 years away. >> three floods in a week, surae chinn, thank you for that. tough to imagine and here we're talking a severe weather alert day. >> we're looking at some more stormy conditions tonight where some more showers and thunderstorms could be copping through and some of those

storms -- coming through and some of those storms could produce heavy rainfall. it won't be widespread, but we are concerned about some areas getting flash flooding, so we are under a flash flood watch in the entire d.c. metro area going until 11:00 tonight. we're mainly concerned about the small creeks and low lying areas like around the metro and urban areas. here's a look at live doppler 9000 hd. we do see areas of light rain and some thunderstorms especially out west towards winchester that are kind of acting up. here's a look at radar closer in. we do see more showers and storms coming in from the northwest. we'll zoom in closer. winchester, we see a little lightning, moderate to heavy rain, but these aren't severe. in fact, the temperatures are only getting up to the lower 80s today. so that heat helps us keep that severe possibility low. you can see these storms that we're watching that are slowly kind of coming through, they may end up losing some steam over the next couple hours as it gets closer to us.

so that's better news as the potential for severe storms is very low. here's a look at our live weather cam brought to you by michael and son. it's drizzly, 76 degrees, cloudy skies at reagan national. winds are pick up at times east northeast around 17 miles per hour. most of us really are in the 70s at this hour, 73 arlington and also college park, laurel at 72 degrees and reston in the mid-70s. so here's a look at what we're expecting, temperatures continuing to go on the decline, a flash flood watch in effect until 11:00 tonight, more showers and storms expected. saturday is cooler and unsettled and then the warmth returns for sunday for the end of your weekend. here's your futurecast. tonight we'll see more showers and storms. overnight we'll be more scattered. tomorrow morning just a few spots of isolated showers and storms, generally cloudy, again the afternoon could see some unsettled weather but not widespread. saturday night looks like overall most of us should be dry. here's a look at your forecast

for the next three days. code yellow alert for saturday because of the unsettled weather possibility, high around 80. sunday is code green because we're looking at only a stray storm possible, high around 87. monday the heat is back, temperatures getting up to near mid-90s. here's your next seven days, so hot by monday and next week into tuesday. wednesday and thursday we'll stay in the lower 90s but no crazy intense heat. again the theme tonight you want to keep your eye out for is the potential for some flooding. come to our website www.wusa9.com. we'll keep you updated. i'll be here through the night. if you do encounter flooding tonight, never cross a flooded street by road or by foot. or by car or by foot. not golf weather here, but it's golf weather somewhere and tiger is making some moves. >> whenever he makes a move, everyone pays attention. tiger woods, his army of supporters have been waiting for another major. is the wait over? he ain't got it yet, but the

man they love is in the hunt, woods within striking distance overseas. >> nats looking to give the heisman to the braves. we'll give you all the details coming up next in sports. [ male announcer ] where did all the obama stimulus money go?

friends, donors, campaign supporters, special interest groups where did the obama stimulus money go? solyndra: 500 million taxpayer dollars. bankrupt. so where did the obama stimulus money go? windmills from china. electric cars from finland 79% of the 2.1 billion in stimulus grants awarded through it went to overseas companies. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message. now 9 sports with dave owens, the best sports in town. >> oldest golf marion championship in existence -- major championship in

existence, the only major held outside the united states, talking about the british open. you win the jug which is the trophy given to the man who tames the course. tiger woods has won threw of them, not in a while. he's currently on a four-year winless streak. back to him in just a second. this guy here brandt snedeker never made the cut at the british open until today. i'd say he was cutting up the competition, 64, 10-under at the halfway point, your 36 hole leader. tiger after a bogey on 11 got hot down the stretch, here birdie drop it on 16. had he four. then on 18 -- he had four. then on 18, a severe woods alert day. out of the bunker into the hole. he's 6-under four shots behind snedeker. snedeker is in good shape, leader at the halfway point, has won four of the last seven british opens. so it's good to be on top. tiger is looking to break that 0-4 streak. adam scott with tiger's old caddy is in second place.

baseball, ian dez mont is not going to allow -- desmond is not going to allow a little pain in the thigh to stop him. he's going to tough it out. he didn't start yesterday. tonight he will. hopefully he won't have to move that much which might happen if stephen strasburg strikes everybody out. strasburg going for win no. 11, a big series. braves in town, 3 1/2 back of the nats. is this a big series? we asked the face of the franchise. >> every time we play we play someone and of weekend in the past six or seven years -- every weekend in the past six or seven years we've tried to win every series we played in. so i guess from that point it hasn't changed. >> ryan zimmerman does not sound excited. finally don't expect to see serena williams this sunday at the kastles match, little sis resting her batch for the olympics. venus will join her sister going for a third gold medal.

serena will rest that back to represent the good u.s. of a. don't forget to watch that kastles match on sunday. i'll be there. >> a quick check of the weather? >> flash flood watch until 11:00 tonight. we're expecting more storms and showers tonight. some of those storms could produce heavy rainfall. so be on the lookout for that tonight. >> that's it for us. the cbs evening news is next. good night, everyone.